WIDAbstractWorkshop February2013
Example 1: Humanities Abstract
Kenneth Tait Andrews, "'Freedom is a constant struggle': The
dynamics and consequences of the Mississippi Civil Rights
Movement, 1960-1984" Ph.D. State University of New York at
Stony Brook, 1997, p. 620, Aug 1998
This paper examines the impacts of social movements through
a multi-layered study of the Mississippi Civil Rights
Movement from its peak in the early 1960s through the early
1980s. By examining this historically important case, I clarify
the process by which movements transform social structures
and the constraints movements face when they try to do so. The
time period studied includes the expansion of voting rights and
gains in black political power, the desegregation of public
schools and the emergence of white-flight academies, and the
rise and fall of federal anti-poverty programs. I use two major
research strategies: (1) a quantitative analysis of county-level
data and (2) three case studies. Data have been collected from
archives, interviews, newspapers, and published reports. This
paper challenges the argument that movements are
inconsequential. Some view federal agencies, courts, political
parties, or economic elites as the agents driving institutional
change, but typically these groups acted in response to the
leverage brought to bear by the civil rights movement. The
Mississippi movement attempted to forge independent
structures for sustaining challenges to local inequities and
injustices. By propelling change in an array of local
institutions, movement infrastructures had an enduring legacy
in Mississippi.
Problem Statement
This paper examines the impacts of social movements through
a multi-layered study of the Mississippi Civil Rights
Movement from its peak in the early 1960s through the early
1980s. By examining this historically important case, I clarify
the process by which movements transform social structures
and the constraints movements face when they try to do so.
Methods
The time period studied in this paper includes the expansion of
voting rights and gains in black political power, the
desegregation of public schools and the emergence of white-
flight academies, and the rise and fall of federal anti-poverty
programs. I use two major research strategies: (1) a quantitative
analysis of county-level data and (2) three case studies. Data
have been collected from archives, interviews, newspapers, and
published reports.
Results
This paper challenges the argument that movements are
inconsequential. Some view federal agencies, courts, political
parties, or economic elites as the agents driving institutional
change, but typically these groups acted in response to
movement demands and the leverage brought to bear by the
civil rights movement. The Mississippi movement attempted to
forge independent structures for sustaining challenges to local
inequities and injustices.
Conclusion
By propelling change in an array of local institutions,
movement infrastructures had an enduring legacy in
Mississippi.